Dr. Memon is a Professor Emeritus at Washington State University and Vice President for Livestock at We-Empower, a US based NGO, focusing on food security, gender equality and equity, livelihoods, and One Health. As a Fulbright Specialist https://fulbrightspecialist.worldlearning.org/ , Dr. Mushtaq Memon’s latest assignment, in June 2022, was to assist the Veterinary Faculty at Agriculture & Forestry University http://afu.edu.np/vet/ Rampur, Chitwan, Nepal.
Dr. Mushtaq Memon’s recent trip to Nepal as a Fulbright Specialist was filled with community outreach activities in addition to his work with the students and staff of the Veterinary school at the Agricultural and Forestry University. Dr. Memon visited a local goat farmer (see the previous article Goat Production and Reproduction in Nepal (https://we-empower.co/goat-production-and-reproduction-in-nepal) as well as visiting Government of Nepal agricultural facilities.
Two of the extracurricular activities that he participated in were meetings of local service clubs. At a community gathering focused on the “Power of Positive Thinking”, Prof Hom Basnet was the main speaker and Dr. Memon briefly addressed the audience, telling them of his work as a Fulbright Specialist in Nepal. Dr. Memon noted that there were about 250 people at the lecture with the majority of them being women. Following the presentation, Dr. Memon spoke with a few of the women and found that most were entrepreneurs with small local businesses.
Dr. Memon was also invited to address another group of entrepreneurs, members of the local Rotary Club chapter, where he spoke about Artificial Insemination and Embryo Transfer in Livestock. Dr Memon discussed the importance and contribution of various technologies to increase protein availability to populations, especially in developing countries like Nepal. Dr Memon was impressed with the philanthropic spirit of the Rotary members (https://rotarychitwan.org.np/) as they support many local causes, including local hospitals, old people’s homes, and vocational education.
Dr Memon was also invited to discuss Fulbright opportunities for faculty and students at Gandaki University in Pokhara, Nepal
We-Empower likes to work closely with local NGOs, service clubs and producer cooperatives when implementing our projects. Partners like these can increase our impact whether it is by widening the audience for our training and entrepreneurial activities, helping to identify areas needing growth and development or adding local persons with expertise to build our programs.